Emily Litella: What’s all this fuss I hear about a rodeo proclamation. Those things went out of style 50 years ago or so, who needs ‘em anymore, and why bother to make a proclamation about something that nobody goes to see anymore? Besides, they were all dusty and mean to animals, and what do they have to do with finding Amelia Earhart anyway?
Chevy Chase: Emily, that’s radio propagation. They’re talking about radio propagation.
Emily: Oh, that’s different then, never mind.
Like a lot of folks, Emily and I understand only a little bit about radio propagation. Unlike Emily though, I do understand a fair amount about scientific method. One of the strongest ways a scientific theory can be validated is through empirical replication. I don’t understand why TIGHAR has gone to such extensive lengths to develop its radio propagation theories but has never attempted any relatively simple experiments to replicate its theory regarding post-loss transmissions. My suggestion would be that TIGHAR obtain an old 50 watt Western Electric transmitter and receiver identical to AE’s if possible, or as close as they can get to that, rig it up with a range of estimates for AE’s antenna configurations, and take them along on trips to Niku. After a rough day of hacking through scaveola, they can sit back on the boat and relax with a drink or two while they alternately see if they can listen to Honolulu am stations and/or transmit to Wake, Midway, and Honolulu on 3105. It would be great if they could get someone at those locations to try to listen and RDF them. If they pre-publicized their plans through short wave clubs in the US, they might be able to get amateurs there to try to listen for them as well. Any success in this area is something that ordinary people (even Emily) can easily understand without having to try to figure out what signal to noise ratios mean or how to convert meters to Khz or what exactly is meant by “probability” in Bob Brandenberg’s analysis.
AE had no intention of listening to KGMB or transmitting to Hawaii (or mainland US) from Gardner and it apparently worked for her first time, right out of the can, night after night, every hour on the quarter hour, even with a damaged antenna and poor old Fred delirious from a conk on the noggin. TIGHAR could still try it this summer and at least do some informal, preliminary brainstorming work in this regard, something that they could use to build on and refine in subsequent trips. What kind of background noise and unidentifiable carrier wave transmissions, if any, do they pick up? Do they pick up Nicaragua? Does anybody anywhere hear them? Does anyone else have any thoughts on this or other simple experiments that might be helpful? Along similar lines, did anyone ever ask the Coasties that were on Gardner if they received Honolulu am stations or what their experience was with transmitting ranges and conditions in that area? Just throwing out some food for thought.
I want to believe,
Diego Vásquez